“John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.” (John 3:27 KJV)
Why Managed Surrender? No other term more adequately describes the single deadliest disease ever. It rapidly infects the common Christian. It can be more aggressive than cancer, more widespread than hiv, and more crippling than Multiple Sclerosis. Regardless of age, experience, circumstances, or gifts there is one difficulty that seems to be common. A managed surrender rather than a simple and complete surrender to Jesus. Some would call it pride, and they would be correct in many respects. Yet when you think of how it manifests itself it is far more subtle, illusive, and even welcomed. Managed Surrender is the perversion whereby the great fundamentals of time tested scripture are taken and turned into mere tools whereby we begin to build whatever we are looking to construct. Stones that would otherwise serve as markers and milestones and speak out in praise have become commodity building supplies. As construction workers, we often forget that the blue print is in God’s hand and not ours. The essence of surrender is what makes time tested scriptures shine so brightly. It is like an old battle skill that was the first to be taught that now finds no place in the training manual. Surrender, the one fundamental element that ought to be the cornerstone of every decision, has become the neglected secret of Christianity. A real, practical, and living understanding of surrender is missing.
Surrender conditions the heart which is where love must begin. You will notice that the less real surrender is in your prayers, the less power they have. The less you yield to God’s will, the more confused you are as to why He is taking the path He is taking. The less you think of your neighbor, the more difficult it is to love them. Surrender is a system of infinitely small detail built in concert and capable of transporting the largest of engines. However, when we begin to take control of, or more subtly distance God from control of, what we think is right and begin to manage what we claim is our own; then the best detail and the grandest of visions become bent and our end destination changes. Perhaps Paul said it best in saying that without love I am and gain nothing (see 1 Corinthians 13). The process of getting to know Love himself, Jesus, involves humility and surrender rather than gaining control and manageability. It is the deceptive thought that it is the person who stands on the rock that is also the person who weathers the storm. Yet it is not because this person stands; it is because the rock remains solid. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30 KJV) “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” (Psalms 127:1 KJV) Defeat comes so quickly as you take greater and greater control of your own circumstances. Even if you are “using” what seem to be golden nuggets that you have picked up along the way. We must constantly remember that Jesus is the way and not merely a compass pointing out the way.
I invite you to freely browse through the articles posted on this web site. The articles are designed like 3D glasses to highlight the terms “managed” and “surrender” to help draw out new dimension in scriptures that you may have read ever since you could read. I consider myself a mere seedling in a forest of great, tall, and mature trees when it comes to writing, but I trust that the simple commentary may inspire you today.
“Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name; Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (Jeremiah 33:1-3 KJV)
